Foxborough Officials Tell Residents to Stay Off Roads Saturday

As residents wake up to over two feet of snow in Foxborough, officials are urging everyone to stay inside Saturday while plows work to clear roads.

“The roads in some areas aren’t safe,” said Foxborough Police Chief Edward O’Leary. “The Governor hasn’t lifted the driving ban yet and people should stay home.”

O’Leary told Foxborough officials Saturday that his four-wheel drive vehicle got stuck for a period of time on Chestnut Street as he was making his way back to the Public Safety Building.

“I got stuck on Chestnut Saturday morning with a four-wheel drive vehicle and a reasonably sane driver,” O’Leary said. “It’s just the drifts. You pull over and you’re in 12 inches of snow. Crucial thing is to limit traffic.”

Even with the snow winding down Saturday and the town’s DPW staying on top of the roads – plowing for nearly 38 straight hours – the wind is causing problems on Chestnut Street and other secondary roads, according to O’Leary.

Aside from the road conditions, O’Leary said it has been a relatively quiet blizzard in Foxborough.

“Calls are primarily for alarms,” O’Leary said. “Not very many [calls].”

Other calls have been assisting fire services with medical calls, which also have been light.

“Since noontime Friday we’ve only had three medical transports,” said Foxborough Fire Deputy Chief Steven Bagley. “Two non-medical transports and one fire alarm.”

Foxborough officials have reported no power outages or downed wires in town – a significant improvement from the last three major storms Foxborough has over the past year.

“It is amazing,” said Town Manager Kevin Paicos.

Foxborough had six National Grid crews stationed at the town’s DPW garage Friday but with the blizzard producing no outages or major incidents, National Grid liaison Tom Coughlin said he will likely be leaving town for other areas affected by the storm.

“It is amazing that we didn’t at least have house services down,” Coughlin said. “I think what happened is when the temperature started to drop the snow gets less dense and it starts to dry out so some of the trees and power lines were relieved of some of the pressure. That probably helped us quite a bit.

“I may have to leave if there is nothing here because we have a lot of customers along the South coast and South Shore that are in need of significance service.”

Coughlin said National Grid lost its transmission line in Southeastern Massachusetts, which “serves quite a few communities.”

An understanding Paicos was confident the town’s power would not be compromised Saturday.

“We can’t be selfish about this,” Paicos said. “We utterly don’t have any need right now and I don’t see the situation changing in any meaningful way. We could have a branch come down anytime but on the other hand any meaningful outages it is just not going to happen.”

Two National Grid crews will remain dedicated to this zone, which includes Foxborough, Wrentham, Franklin and Plainville.

“They will be based in Hopedale but can get to Foxborough quickly,” Coughlin said. “I can also leave at any time to come back to Foxborough if needed.”